THE PROCESS
DESIGN
Our pieces are made through a multi-step process, wherein we combine glass, heat and ideas to create something beautiful.
We start with an idea. For jewelry, where we might get three or four pieces out of a single project, this means envisioning what each piece should look like, and how they relate to the overall design. We think about how colors of glass will combine, how the light will transmit or reflect, and how we can achieve depth and motion.
SELECTION
We use fusible art glass from Bullseye Glass in our work. By using one specific type of glass (generally from one maker), we ensure that the glass is compatible and won't crack or break during firing or after. For a given project, we may combine sheet glass and frit (glass that is crushed into different sizes). We may add stringers (thin sticks of glass), murrine (glass that is pulled into canes and then chopped off like cookies from a roll of cookie dough), or dichroic glass (developed by NASA, this has a special coating that reflects light in one color, and transmits light in another color).
CRAFTSMANSHIP
Once designed and assembled, the project will go into the kiln for one or more firings. Different firing schedules may be used to fuse the glass into a solid piece, to shape the glass by slumping into a mold, or to finish the glass by fire-polishing sharp edges. Some projects can take up to 5 or 6 firings, as each new layer is added.
When the basic project is completely fused, the remaining steps depend on what is being made. For pendants, we'll mark the shapes on the finished patty, and then cut the pieces out with a ring saw using a diamond blade. For a bowl or a self-standing piece, the project will be slumped into a mold to provide the desired shape.
Finally, the piece will be worked on a wet sander or lapidary wheel to remove any rough edges, clean up the shape if necessary, or add a flat bottom to a round bowl, for example. The last step of this process, called cold-working, is to polish the piece to a glossy finish, or to sandblast a matte finish if desired.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Beyond this project-type work, our process contains several other tasks. We make some of our own reusable molds using clay so that we can create unique shapes for our glass. We also make single-use molds with a plaster mix, which are used for casting or other techniques. And we do lots of tests! We test fire color combinations to see if they look as good together as they do in our head. We also do miniature tests based on new ideas to make sure the glass will behave the way we expect it to. And the most important - we test firings at different temperatures and with different hold times to ensure the firing schedule will produce exactly the effect we are looking for. Just a few degrees and a few minutes can mean the difference between a beautifully textured piece and one that is perfectly smooth.
This is definitely a labor of love. Coldworking - sanding and grinding - may seem like a chore. But for us, it's more like a car collector waxing their 1967 Corvette. And even the basic tests, a stack of two colors each an inch square, generate excitement when it's time to open the kiln.